UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE GEOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF ORGANIC MATTER IN VICTORIA HARBOUR SEDIMENTS, HONG KONG A Dissertation SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By MICHAEL HSIEH Norman, Oklahoma 2006 UMI Number: 3207060 3207060 2006 UMI Microform Copyright All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. [...]... sources of lipids in the core samples 1.2 Study Area – Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong SAR Victoria Harbour is located in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China, between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island, and is one of the busiest shipping ports in the world The total area within the Hong Kong territorial boundaries is about 3400 km2 Land coverage in this region, which is comprised of the... preserving approximately one-third of the total organic 1 China New Territories Victoria Harbour Kowloon Lantau Island Hong Kong Island Fig 1.1 Map illustrating the location of Victoria Harbour, relative to the Pearl River, in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China (map taken from Fyfe et al., 2000) carbon inventory (Hedges et al., 1997) An estimated 80% of the organic carbon in the ocean... into the Harbour Release of methane from harbour sediments during dredging activities instigated interest in studying the sources of methane trapped in Victoria Harbour sediments Core MBH 54/2, from a heavily polluted area in Victoria Harbour s Kowloon Bay, was selected for this study However, no methane was detected in sediments from this core The project was redefined, using a detailed organic geochemical. .. %N in sediment from core MBH 54/2, from Kowloon Bay, Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong SAR …… 49 Graph of %Corg versus %N in sediment intervals from core sample MBH 54/2, Kowloon Bay, Victoria Harbour The trend line shows a positive correlation between organic carbon and total nitrogen … 51 Downcore profile of C/N (wt % ratio) in core MBH 54/2, from Kowloon Bay, Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong SAR “ ” indicates... particular interest in that the Holocene unit of the innercontinental shelf in the Hong Kong SAR has been proposed to be a net carbon sink (Yim et al., 2002) Continental margins, especially in regions in close proximity to deltas, are typically important reservoirs of sedimentary organic matter (Berner, 1989; Hedges, 1992; Pernetta and Milliman, 1995; Hedges et al., 1997; Mudge and Norris, 1997) In studies of. .. occurrence of sterols common to aquatic organisms Bound lipids appear to retain lipid profiles descriptive of bacterial communities in the sediments More in- depth comparisons to lipid profiles of bacterial strains might allow bacterial remnants in sediments to be identified, allowing us to better speculate on their role in the remineralization of organic matter in Recent sediments xix CHAPTER 1 Introduction... and Objectives Victoria Harbour is situated within the southeastern prodelta region of the Pearl River system (Fyfe et al., 1999), between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island, in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China A tidal channel runs west to east, through Victoria Harbour, with the mouth of the Pearl River to the west and the northern continental shelf of the South China Sea to the... Dumping in Victoria Harbour The disposal of sewage waste into Hong Kong waters occurs on a rather large scale, primarily due to the immense population (~6.9 million people in 2004), and because existing sanitary landfill sites and sewage treatment plants are incapable of handling such large amounts of waste (Yim, 1984; World Wide Fund for Nature Hong Kong, 1993) In general, raw sewage is released into... into Hong Kong waters by seawall-type sewage outfalls (Fig 1.7) and submarine-type sewage outfalls (Fig 1.8), with minor or no treatment (Yim, 1984) About fifty percent of the raw sewage is released directly into Hong Kong waters Of the remaining fifty percent of incoming sewage, about forty percent of larger size solid waste undergoes sedimentation (i.e., “preliminary treatment”), and the remaining... Kowloon, Hong Kong Island, Lantau Island, and other surrounding islands, totals an area of about 1100 km2 (Fig 1.1; Yim et al., 2002) Victoria Harbour is in the southeastern prodelta region of the Pearl 7 River and has a tidal channel running west to east through the harbour into the northern continental shelf of the South China Sea (Fyfe et al., 1997) Nearly all land surrounding Victoria Harbour has . been disposed into the Harbour. Release of methane from harbour sediments during dredging activities instigated interest in studying the sources of methane trapped in Victoria Harbour sediments UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE GEOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF ORGANIC MATTER IN VICTORIA HARBOUR SEDIMENTS, HONG KONG A Dissertation . River, in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China (map taken from Fyfe et al., 2000) …………………………… 2 1.2 Maps illustrating changes to the land area surrounding Victoria Harbour,